


slowly, and then all at once

by icecreamandlarry



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-25
Updated: 2014-01-25
Packaged: 2018-01-10 00:29:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1152645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icecreamandlarry/pseuds/icecreamandlarry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry’s mouth likes to betray him so he mutters accusingly, “what have you done with Barbra?” God, he’s an idiot.</p><p>The boy- well, man really- frowned. Harry decides then that he never wants to see this beautiful creature’s face contort that way again. “I haven’t done anything with her, mate. She just hired me yesterday.”</p><p> </p><p>-or, the one where Louis is the pretty new barista at Harry's favorite coffee shop.</p>
            </blockquote>





	slowly, and then all at once

**Author's Note:**

> Short little fluff piece, written at 1am.
> 
> Enjoy!!
> 
> The title is obviously from the quote by John Green (you can find that below).

 

 

 

_**I fell in love the way you fall asleep:** _

_**slowly, and then all at once.** _

  
_**  
**_-John Green, _The Fault in Our Stars_

 

* * *

 

Harry is late.

He is so, so late. Like, he-might-as-well-not-even-go-into-work late.

But he is still getting his coffee. Horan Publishing may deprive him of many things, but they will _not_ take away his coffee.

So Harry stumbles into the coffee shop, bleary-eyed and with his tie undone, ready for his usual.

 “I’ll have the usual please,” Harry mutters, not even looking up to address Barbra, the elderly woman who owned the shop. She’s there every morning and so is he, so they have a nice little thing going on.

“Um, I don’t-“ Harry’s head jerks up, taking in the boy who was most certainly _not_ Barbra.

Harry’s mouth likes to betray him so he mutters accusingly, “what have you done with Barbra?” God, he’s an idiot.

The boy- well, man really- frowns. Harry decided then that he never wants to see this beautiful creature’s face contort that way again. “I haven’t done anything with her, mate. She just hired me yesterday.”

Now it's Harry’s turn to frown. “You don’t know my usual do you?”

“I’m afraid to say I don’t.”

“Um-“ Well fuck. Harry’s gotten the same thing every day for a year. He doesn’t even remember what the hell it’s called. He looks at his watch and groans. “Just get me whatever is easiest to make, please. Large.”

“You don’t have to go easy on me just because I’m new, you know.” The boy starts making his way over to the machine anyway, pouring in syrups and creams. He moves with a confidence that makes Harry question how it could be this boy’s first day. “Barbra trained me well,” the boy adds, turning back with a wink like he could read Harry’s mind. Once he finishes the drink, he gives it to Harry with a smile. “Your total will be seven eighty-nine, sir.”

Harry gapes at him. “What the hell did you make me? The most expensive thing you have?”

The boy smiles sweetly. “Yes. With four espresso shots.”

Harry groans, tossing a few bills on the counter with a sigh. “You’re going to bankrupt me and I don’t even know your name.” It's not his best line, obviously, but he's trying at least.

The boy just grins, punches a few things into the register and scoops up a few coins. “Eleven cents is your change.”

Harry grabs the money and shoves it into his pocket, trying to hide the pout on his face as he picks up his drink. “Thanks,” he mumbles, heading out the door to walk to work.

He's late, he knew he would be- and already was- when he headed out that morning so he doesn't even try to run or catch a cab.

But that doesn’t stop Perrie, their- frankly- overpaid receptionist, from glaring at him as he makes his way inside out of the cold. “You’re late,” she informs him. She's also quite observant as well, see.

“Wow thanks, Per. I didn’t know.” He walks right passed her, heading to the elevator. He gets off on the third floor, sending up a quick prayer that Niall isn’t there yet.

Obviously, Harry’s lack of attendance at church is coming back to bite him in the ass.

“You’re late,” Niall booms from his perch on the edge of Harry’s desk. “You know what happens when you’re late!”

As soon as the words fall out of the blond’s mouth, two heads peek around the corner. “He’s late?” Zayn asks, grinning from ear to ear in a way that makes Harry’s toes curl up in his shoes.

“He’s late,” Liam confirms, wearing a smirk that could only rival Zayn’s.

Harry sighs, pulling a hand through his hair. “Please, you guys. It’s been a long morning already and-“

Niall tsks at him, pushing a finger against his lips. “You know the rules.”

“Please, please,” Harry begs, hoping for mercy. “I can’t handle her today.”

“Rules,” Niall repeats, mock-sternly, jumping off the desk and doing a little jig. “You get to deal with the woman from _Oppression!_ Magazine.” He laughs in a way that wasn’t entirely evil but not entirely reassuring, either.

“I had them last month and it wasn’t all that bad, if I’m being honest.”

“Of course they were nice to you, Liam,” Zayn scoffs, grabbing a bottle of water out of the mini-fridge under Harry’s desk. “You have the sex appeal of a puppy, they aren’t going to be intimidated by you. Harry on the other hand,” Zayn gives him a once over; tie still undone, hair mussed in a way that didn’t look bad, but it wasn’t entirely intentional, sleeves of his dress shirt rolled up to his elbow. “He looks like a naughty teacher.”

Niall nods his head in agreement. “Yeah, you look like you've just fucked one of your students in a locker room or something. It’s hot, but kinda creepy.”

Liam pouts. “I can be intimidating too, you know.” And he could, what with the bulging muscles and ever-present five o’clock shadow. But he’s just not; too kind and considerate for that. He’s the type to help old ladies cross the street and save puppies from burning buildings.

“Sure you can, Li,” Niall says, not even trying to cover up his patronizing tone. “Let’s leave Harry to it, then.”

So the boys leave him alone and as he sits down, he takes his first tentative sip of his coffee.

It's strong, nowhere close to his usual, but not too bad. There's a bit of caramel taste underneath all of the bitterness of the espresso. He won’t be ordering it again, though. Niall pays him barely enough to buy his value-priced cup of coffee everyday, he can't afford to be spending seven dollars on a cup of bitter, caramel-flavored water.

He starts checking his email because he is Productive. He has one from Niall that's just a series of funny cat pictures and he takes his time looking through that one, snorting from time to time.

The next email is the notification of his schedule for today. He doesn’t have much going on after his meeting with the lady from _Oppression!_ , other than a lunch date that he's not even sure he wants to go on.

The guy's nice, they’d gone out once before, but he wasn’t really all that interested. It seemed a bit too late to cancel, so he decides to just make it through lunch and politely avoid any phone calls afterwards. He's actually a terrible person.

“Mr. Styles?” Perrie says, the picture of innocence, as she peeks her head into his office. “Your 9:30 is here.”

Harry bites back a sigh, not quite mentally prepared to deal with anyone yet. He stands up to be polite. “Okay. Send them in, please.” He is a Professional.

Perrie opens the door a little wider and a tall woman walks in briskly, a frown etching its way onto her face before Harry’s even opened his mouth. The woman turns to look at Perrie with a sympathetic look. “Don’t let him treat you that way dear, you’re not a dog who is trained to obey his every command.” Perrie nods hesitantly, the door closing behind her. The woman, Ms.Delpy, he thinks, reaches back to open it a crack.

“The door will remain open,” she informs him, before sitting down in one of the chairs facing his desk.

“That’s fine,” Harry tells her, sitting back down again now that she’s seated. “Can I get you anything to drink?”

The woman scoffs. “I have my own, thanks.”

The rest of their meeting goes along the same lines; Harry making innocent remarks and Ms. Delpy responding in a variety of patronizing ways.

They plan the layout of the magazine, starting with the cover which features a photoshopped picture of Susan B. Anthony’s head on the body of Jesus, and ending with an article entitled _Oh Joy, Sex Toy_. 

~*~

Harry lets out a sigh of relief once Ms. Delpy leaves his office- three hours after she'd arrived.

He's not alone for long, though, because three bodies all come barging through his door at once, grins on their faces. “How’d it go?” Niall asks, plopping down in the chair that Ms. Delpy had occupied.

“You look wrecked, mate,” Zayn comments, perching on the edge of Harry’s desk. “And not in a good way. Was it that bad?”

“It was terrible,” Harry mumbles eventually, “and now I have to go on this stupid fucking date and sit through an hour of small talk with Nick until I can escape.”

“I could call you halfway through, if you want?” Liam offers kindly, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. “We could pretend that the building’s on fire or something.”

Harry rubs his cheek against Liam’s hand. “This is why you’re my favorite, Li. You’re so nice to me.” He shoots a glare at the other two boys. “You guys mean nothing compared to Liam.”

Niall shrugs, not in the least bit perturbed. “I don’t care, man. As long as you guys leave all the straight ladies to me and I have Zayn to drink with on the weekends, I don’t need anything else.”

Zayn lazily tilts his head towards Niall. “Thanks man,” he says seriously. Harry swears that they are all smoking something other than cigarettes during their Smoke Breaks.

“Well,” Harry glances at the clock, “I’ll be off then. Liam? Call me at twelve thirty-ish, yeah?”

Liam nods and Harry grabs his coat off the back of his chair, leaving his office without a glance in Niall or Zayn’s direction. They don't deserve his love, honestly.

Harry meets Nick outside the diner, the same one as their last date, and hugs him tentatively. “You ready?” Harry asks, pulling open the door with a forced smile.

Nick looks kind of nervous and hesitates. “I was actually wondering if we could go to this little coffee shop down the road. It’s a little smaller, quieter, you know?”

Harry beams. That’s where he went this morning. That’s where the pretty boy worked. Yes, he could do that. “Sure, that’s fine.” Harry lets the door to the diner swing shut and they walk the half-block to the coffee shop.

This time Nick holds the door and Harry has to duck awkwardly under his arm to enter the place. “Have you been here before?” Nick asks, looking over the menu that was written on a blackboard behind the counter.

“Once or twice,” Harry replies, not wanting to tell Nick that _yes of course, I come here every day_ because he doesn’t exactly want Nick to be looking for him after today.

“Why hello there curly,” the boy behind the counter greets him, a bright smile on his face. “I see you’ve come back.” His eyes slide to Nick and his cheery act falters a bit. “And you’ve brought a friend.”

Harry would say that the boy seems jealous, but then Harry remembers that they’ve talked to each other literally one time, so he dismisses the thought almost immediately.

“What’ll you have, babe?” Nick asks, sliding an arm around Harry’s shoulders. Harry rolls his eyes and the blue-eyed boy behind the counter must see because he giggles quietly, a hand reaching up to cover his mouth like he wants to stifle the sound.

“I’ll have a small hot chocolate, please. I think I’ve had enough coffee for today.” He sends a meaningful look in the pretty barista’s direction and he catches the boy smile as he rolls his eyes.

“I’ll have a medium caramel macchiato, with light cream.”

The boy behind the counter punches a few numbers into the register. “It’ll be six even,” the boy says, looking between them, unsure of who will pay.

Nick reaches into his back pocket and pulls out his wallet, stopping Harry from reaching for his own. “I’ve got it,” Nick tells him, pulling out a ten and telling Louis to, “keep the change.”

Blue-eyes nods, but his eyebrows are pulled together as he turns around to start making their drinks.

Harry is just checking out the boy’s bum when Nick speaks. “So how’s work going?”

“Same as always," Harry shrugs. "I had a meeting with some woman from _Oppression!_ Magazine today. That was interesting.”

Nick laughs and leans forward, effectively popping Harry’s personal space bubble. “How was it interesting?”

“She just really doesn’t like men. Like, at all.” Harry doesn’t know what to say; he doesn’t want to go into explicit detail about what all happened, because he knew that Nick would just interrupt him, like always.

Nick lets out a sharp bark of laughter and grins in a way that reminds Harry of a snake for some reason.

“That sounds like Chelsea, from the station. She absolutely hates everything that I do. I don’t know why, I haven’t done a thing to the bitch,” Well, Harry thinks, calling her a bitch probably doesn’t help all that much. “You should hear the things she calls me when I ask her to pick up lunch.”

The boy behind the counter coughs pointedly and slides their drinks towards them.

Nick picks them up without even a glance in the barista’s direction, heading towards a table near the back. The place is practically deserted; the only other person there being an older man, his nose in a book as he sips on a cup of what looks like dark coffee.

Harry smiles apologetically at Blue-Eyes and mumbles a quiet thank you before trailing after his date.

“-and then I told them that there was no way that I’d wake up at six in the morning to talk on the fucking radio!” Has he been talking this whole time?

Harry chuckles because he feels like he's supposed to and Nick continues.

Harry sips his hot chocolate and stares at the boy behind the counter who keeps wiping a rag in the same circle over and over again as he scrolls through his phone.

Sometime later, Nick’s phone starts ringing. Harry has never been more thankful to hear the sound of a marimba.

“I gotta take this, babe, one sec.” He stands up before Harry can even process his words and moves over towards the windows.

He can't be happy with whoever he's talking to because he's using ridiculous hand gestures and there are various curse words scattered throughout his end of the conversation.

He comes back to the table after a few minutes and slids on his jacket. “I’m so sorry, but that was the station. Chelsea’s in labor or something and they need someone to fill in for her slot. I promise I’ll make it up to you.” He leans to down to peck Harry’s lips, but he turns his head so Nick’s lips just brush awkwardly over his cheek. “I’ll text you, okay?”

He heads out the door and Harry lets out a sigh of relief once the door clicks closed.

“He’s a real keeper, that,” a voice pipes up from the other end of the shop. “Super charming, _great_ listener.”

Harry stands up and makes his way over to the counter slowly. “If you’re going to be degrading my dates, you could at least tell me your name.”

“They degrade themselves, if we’re being honest here. Like, really. Why would you go for the pretentious hipster type anyway? They’re terrible in bed.” The boy sticks out his hand and grins. “My name’s Louis.”

It’s been two minutes and Harry already knows his name _and_ sexuality. That’s helpful.

Harry shakes his hand, letting his fingers linger a little longer than would be expected out of a stranger. Not that Louis seems to mind.

“Harry,” he replies, pulling a chair up to the counter.

“You can’t just sit wherever you want, Harry,” Louis says with a smirk. “I have a business to run here.”

Harry gestures around the empty shop. “Yes, with your abundance of costumers, I don’t see how you have any time to chitchat with commoners like myself.”

Louis scoffs, finally locking his phone and setting it on the counter. “It’s always empty after eleven, I don’t know why she keeps it open.”

“It’s not empty now,” Harry reminds him. “In fact, it’s the opposite of empty. It’s occupied. By me.”

“I don’t think that having one person in a shop makes it occupied.”

“Well, clearly you don’t-“ Harry’s phone starts ringing. It's Liam. “One second, I have to answer this.”

He doesn’t get up from his seat, just stares at Louis as he slides his finger across the screen to accept the call. “Hello?”

“The office is on fire!” Liam screams, loud enough that Louis chuckles and Harry has to pull the phone away from his ear. “Everything’s burning, come quick!”

He hears a little shuffle and then Niall’s voice pipes through the line. “Harry we need your help! Should my leg look like this!?” There are slightly muffled sounds of crinkling in the background and Harry can’t keep the grin off his face.

“I applaud your efforts, however they are unnecessary.” Harry tells them once the screaming lowers to a dull roar. “Nick had to leave early, but thanks anyway. Maybe we should go with a different approach next time, though.” He looks at Louis, taking in his smirk and the way one of his eyebrows is raised in question. “Judging by my new friend’s face, I don’t think that it was entirely believable.”

“New friend?” Niall asks, whispering for the other people with him to ‘shut the fuck up’. “Who’s your new friend? You don’t need new friends.”

Harry beams. Niall gets awfully jealous sometimes. “His name’s Louis,” the boy in question narrows his eyes as Harry mentions him, but Harry just shrugs, “he works at my coffee shop.”

Zayn’s voice crackles through the speaker. “That little hole in the wall place? With the old lady who’s kind of scary but nice at the same time?”

Louis snorts and turns around to pour himself a cup of coffee, adding an insane amount of sugar and cream. Harry’s not sure if he’s allowed to do that, but he doesn’t comment. “That’s the one.”

“Bring me back something.” Zayn doesn’t so much as _ask_ , but _demand_. “I wanna mocha frappe thing. Like you know?”

Harry turns to Louis. “Do you have mocha frappe things?”

Zayn mutters something that sounded suspiciously like ‘dick’, and he doesn’t say anything else before he hangs up.

“We do,” Louis confirms, “why, do you want one?”

“I have to get one before I leave, for a friend.”

“And that’ll be…?”

Harry frowns. “Wow, okay. Don’t be too eager to get away from me or anything.”

Louis actually looks upset. “No, I mean. I have to make it, you know? You don’t have to leave.”

“Good.” Harry smirks, his cheekiness showing through. “Because you can’t make me.”

~*~

Harry does leave eventually, after nearly an hour, with a giant smile on his face and plans of returning in the morning to see his new favorite coffee shop employee. (Sorry Barbra.)

~*~

“Is it too soon to text him?” Harry asks, wandering into Niall’s office at around three.

“Could you give me more details, maybe? Like, knowing who the fuck you’re talking about might help.”

“Louis. The guy from the coffee shop.”

“You met him today?”

“Yes,” Harry confirms.

“And he already gave you his number?”

“Yes.”

“Well, damn. He seems pretty gung-ho about it then. I’d text him.”

“But I don’t want to seem too desperate, you know?”

“Did you ask for his number? Or did he just give it to you?”

Harry thought for a moment. “He wrote it on my cup before I left.”

“Did he tell you he was gonna do it?” Harry shook his head. He didn’t even notice until Zayn pointed it out to him when he got back. “Then he was probably nervous about being too forward. You have nothing to worry about, just text him.”

Usually Niall’s a complete dick, but occasionally he can offer up some genuinely good advice.

~*~

3:34pm Harry

_Hiiiii, its Harry._

3:36pm Louis

_So you found it then?_

3:36pm Harry

_Well. I’m texting you aren’t I?_

3:37pm Louis

_I didn’t know if it was too son_

_*soon_

3:45pm Harry

_Not too soon, it’s fine(: Is it too soon to ask you out?_

It took about three punches in the arm from Zayn and a minor meltdown to send that one.

3:47pm Louis

_Idk, maybe you should try(;_

Niall smacks his arm repeatedly from where he's reading the messages over Harry’s shoulder. “He wants it, he wants it. _Look at that winky face_.”

I don’t know what to say,” Harry admits, tossing his phone onto the desk with a groan. “Like, should I be like ‘do you want to go out tonight?’ or should I like, take charge and be like ‘meet me at Rossini’s at seven’. Or maybe I should make him something at my apartment, but that’s kinda creepy, innit? To invite him over to mine already?” Harry ran his hand though his hair and took a few deep breaths. “Okay, I think I’ll just-“

“Already taken care of, mate.” Niall pushes Harry’s phone into his hand and sprints off before he can even respond. 

3:48pm Harry

_Why dont i make u dinner and we can frickle frackle_

3:48 Louis

_Sounds good, I like the way you think(;_

“Niall!” Harry screeches, bolting from the office as quick as his awkward limbs can carry him.

" _Winky face_ , Haz!” Niall counters when Harry finds him, cowering behind Liam who's sat at his desk, probably doing actual work. “You should be thanking me!”

“I want to actually get to know him first, Niall. I know that that is a foreign concept to you, but sometimes people like to get to know other people before they fuck them.”

Niall shrugs, not caring even though Harry knows that he took it a little too far. “I was just trying to help while you were having your breakdown about asserting dominance or some shit.”

Liam, who has been looking back and forth between the two with feigned interest, finally intervenes. “What did you say Niall?”

Niall shrugs. “Nothing really, just-“

“ _Why don’t I make you dinner and we can frickle frackle_ ,” Harry quotes.

“You’ll have dinner first, get to know him then,” Niall argues.

Liam’s face is red from trying to hold in his laughter. “Frickle frackle?” He asks finally, letting out a loud breathy laugh. “Where did you even get that?”

“Tumblr,” Niall says with a shrug. “What do you guys think I do all day?”

~*~

Harry waits until he’s back in the safety of his office to respond.

4:09pm Harry

_That_ _was Niall, I’m so sorry_

_Not that I don’t want that._

4:11pm Louis

_So is this a yes or no on the frickle frackle?_

Harry grins, happy that Louis dpesn't feel awkward about the whole ordeal.

4:12pm Harry

_How about I make you dinner and we can see where it goes from there?(;_

4:14pm Louis

_Sounds like a plan, see you tonight at 7?_

Harry responds with an enthusiastic ‘ _yes_ ’ with maybe too may  _s_ ’s, and his address.

~*~

Louis is late.

Harry had started making their dinner around six-thirty so that it would finish up right as Louis arrived.

But now, Louis’ an hour late and the food is cold and Harry is about three glasses into the bottle of expensive wine he'd bought earlier when the buzzer rings.

He drags himself over to the door and pushes the button with maybe a little too much vigor. “Hello?” He asks warily, because he knows who’s on the other line. And who was on the other end of the line was late. For their date. Maybe he shouldn’t have had the wine.

“Harry? Hey, sorry I’m like, ridiculously late but I had to change after work and I live on the other side of town and then I missed the bus and so I had to wait for the next one and then that one was delayed and- I’m sorry.”

Harry doesn’t say anything, just pushes the button the let him in and waits by the front door. A few minutes later, a tiny little knock comes through the wood and he pulls the door open.

“Welcome to my humble abode,” he says, sweeping his arm to usher Louis into his tiny little apartment. “I would show you around, but our food is getting cold. Er. It’s getting cold-er. I’m gonna go warm that up now.” He makes his way into the kitchen, Louis trailing behind him carefully.

“I see you’ve started on the wine,” he comments lightly, not seeming very upset about it as he pours himself a hearty glass. “I guess you’ll just have to give me time to catch up.”

~*~

Louis does catch up, downing two glasses before Harry sits their warmed-up plates on the table. He drank a third glass with their pasta, absolutely giggly as he tells Harry about his sisters and how they all think that they’re cooler than him, when they obviously are not.

Then, after they eat, they snuggle up on the couch, flushed from the wine, and Harry puts in The Notebook.

They don’t exactly watch it much.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it!! Comments are always appreciated.
> 
> -N
> 
> (Creep at me on tumblr if you'd like: [arrowinheart](http://arrowinheart.tumblr.com/))


End file.
